Dec. 2G, 1884.] 



♦ KNOWLEDGE ♦ 



533 



J. W. p. I always regard the barning brandy which covers the 

 puddinp; as " the Spirit of Christmas " myself. — George Willam- 

 fiON. (1) Tho position angle of a double star (never of a planet) 

 is the angle made with the meridian by a Hue joining the two stars, 

 the larger one of the pair being supposed to occupy the 

 centre of the circle round which the angles are measured 

 from north through east, south, and west to north again. 

 (2) What wo need to know is the direction in which 

 the sun is moving, not the absolute distance of tlie stars. 

 Star groups that appear to open we must be approaching, and re- 

 ceding from those that are closing up. (3) Each star (according 

 to the experiments of Zollncr with his polarisation photometer) in 

 the common scale of magnitudes emits 03G3 of the light of that 

 preceding it. — J. W. Alex.^.nder. Rather too vague to print. — 

 Constant Reader. How can I possibly advise you, unless I know 

 what use you wish to make of your discovery ? — Alfred Pagan 

 suggests that the passage in Job xxxviii. 31 (which is translated 

 from the Septuagint), " Canst thou .... loose the bands of 

 Orion ? " should rather be, " Canst thou loose the bauds (or rings) 

 of Saturn ? " He founds this interpretation on the meaning of the 

 word Kesil (which signifies, in Arabic, inactivity, cold, or torpor), 

 since Saturn was called " the slow mover" by the Hindus. This is 

 ingenious enough ; but the interpretation of Aben Ezra strikes me 

 as being more feasible: "Kimah" (the Pleiades) were the har- 

 bingers of spring ; while Kesil, the great Toledan held, signified 

 the Scorpion — or rather Antares, the chief star in that constella- 

 tion — which heralded the advent of winter. Tliis antithesis is very 

 etriking and poetical. — M. E. Mavrogoreleto. Your hint shall 

 receive attention. — James Simson. The social emancipation of the 

 gipsies is a question of far too limited interest to justify me in 

 occupying space with it here. Great Queen-street doesn't exactly 

 swarm with that interesting (if, perhaps, scarcely rigidly honest) 

 race. 



©ur CfKEfsf Columiu 



By Mephisto. 



PROBLEM No. 143. 



BV H. W. SnERRAHO. 

 Black. 



^,^^^^^ fc^^^^is 



Whitk. 

 White to play and mate in three moves. 



Is there a misprint in Problem 140 ? I find the following solu- 

 tion, which I presume is iiot the author's : — 1. Because no nse 

 wha.ever is made of the W B on QKtG. 2. Because in the only 

 f,,:iv i:; . , '■. " of play there is a " dual" at White's third move. 



1. Kto B5 

 Threatening "either Kt to B6 mate." Black cannot guard this 

 square nor move his K. His only defences are R x P (giving the 

 K a ■ ■.- fo) and B to KB sq. (ch). 



Second Defence. 



B to B sq. (ch) 



2. RxB 

 (Threatening the same mate with either Kt.) 



RxB (best) 



3. Either Kt to BO (ch) K to K5 



4. R to KB4 mate 

 [We hope Mr. Laws will give a good account of himself, but we 



rather believe in W.—Ch. Ed.] 



W. 



AN ILLUSTRATIVE GAME IN EVANS GAMBIT 

 (COMPROMISED DEFENCE). 



Played at Gatti's, November, 1881. 



H 



3. 



4. 



5. 



G. 



7. 



8. 



0. 

 10. 

 11. 

 12. 

 13. 

 14. 

 15. 

 16. 

 17. 



White. 



E. Bird. 

 P to K4 

 Kt to KB3 

 B to B4 

 P to QKt4 

 P to QB3 

 P to Q4 

 Q to Kt3 

 Castles 

 PtoKs 

 KtxP 

 QKt to K2 

 B to Q3 

 Q to Kt2 

 Kt to B4 

 BxKt 

 QR to B sq. 

 KR to Q sq. 



Plack. 

 W. Seymour. 

 PtoK4 

 KttoQBS 

 B to B4 

 BxP 

 B to R4 

 PxP 

 Q to B3 

 PxP 

 Q to Kt3 

 KKt to K2 

 P to Kt4 

 Q to K3 

 Kt to Kt3 

 KtxKt 

 P to KR3 

 Castles 

 B to Kt3 



20. 

 21. 

 22. 

 23. 



White. 

 H. E. Bird. 



18. B to Kt sq. 



19. Q to B2 

 Kt to R4 

 Kt to B5 

 Q to Q3 (6) 

 B to Kt3 



24. P to KR4 



25. K to R2 



20. Q to Q2 



27. Q to KKtS 



28. E X B (g) 



29. Kt to RO (ch) 



30. R to QO (h) 

 ;31. Q to BO (ch) 

 ; 32. Q to R8 (ch) 

 1 33. B to B4 (ch) 

 ' 34. Q X Kt mate 



Blsek. 

 W. Seymonr. 

 Kt to K2 

 Kt to Kt3 

 B to Kt2 

 KRtoKsq.(o) 

 QRtoQsq.(c) 

 P to R3 

 KttoBsq.(.;) 

 B to B3 

 P to KR4 (e) 

 P to KKtS (0 

 QxR 

 K to Kt2 

 PxR 

 K X Kt (0 

 Kt to R2 

 P to Kt4 



NOTES. 



(a) Black dare not play Kt x B, on account of Kt to K7 (ch) and 

 mates on R7. 



(6) An oversight. 



(c) Overlooking that he can now play Kt x B, for if 23. Kt to 

 K7 (ch), K to B sq., winning a piece. 



(d) Weak. He should have played Kt x KP, thereby greatly 

 reducing the pressure of the attack. If in reply to Kt x P White 

 plavs 25. B X Kt, Q x B. 20. R to K sq., Q to B3, or if 



20. KtxP (ch), PxKt, in both 

 Position after Black's 27th move, cases Black has a valid defence. 

 BiACK. (c) This exposes his position 



still more to White's tempestuous 

 attack. 



(/) This inove makes Black's 

 position almost hopeless. White 

 now proceeds in his well-known 

 forcible style. (Sec Diagram.) 



(<;) Well calculated, but if 

 now P X R. 29. R X R, R X R. 



30. Kt to K7 (ch),K to R sq. (best) . 



31. KtxP (ch), P X Kt, and 

 Black has not a lost game. If 

 30. Q X B, P X Kt, and we fail to 

 see Black's great disadvantage. 



(/i) An elegant device. White 

 now secures a brilliant victorv. 

 (i) It K to E2. 32. Q X P wins. 



White. 



In the eighth of his series of lectures on " The World before 

 Man," delivered at the Ipswich Museum, Dr. J. E. Taylor told an 

 amusing story of the agates being " abundant in the neighbourhood 

 of Aberystwith." They were imported from Saxony, and during 

 the night scattered on the beacj. Visitors picked them up, and 

 the local lapidaries were then employed to polish them. 



A New Brush Armature. — In order to obtain more lightness, 

 coolness, and efficiency from the armature of the Brush dynamo, 

 the American makers have introduced a core built up of iron 

 riband instead of the old solid cast-iron core. A long band or 

 riband of iron -0625 in. thick is wound round a circular frame, and 

 at intervals between each turn cross-pieces of the same thickness 

 are inserted to separate the convolutions admitting air, and at the 

 same time projecting on each side so as to form the V-shaped pro- 

 jections which hold the coils in place, and separate them from each 

 other. About forty-five turns "of the band are laid on. The new 

 form is said to enable the machine to supply fifty arcs instead of 

 the forty obtained from the older form at the same speed, namely, 

 7.j9 revolutions per minnte. — Enghiceriiig. 



